Trick or Treat: Battling Childhood Obesity

It’s Halloween. Do you know what your kids are eating? Is this one of the few days of the year where maybe it’s okay for kids to have a little bit of candy, or are you one of those parents who skips the treats altogether and hands out toys or toothbrushes instead?!

Over the summer, we saw the first signs of a national decline in obesity rates among low-income children, although for Connecticut -- the numbers remained roughly the same. School lunches are healthier, women on WIC are getting better food from their local markets, and some young people are finding healthy ways to lose weight.

What makes trick-or-treaters happy is candy. And more candy is better, right?

Well, it turns out that might not actually be the case. A few years ago researchers did a study on Halloween night where some trick-or-treaters were given a candy bar, and others were given the candy bar and a piece of bubble gum.